Chongqing petitioner Yan Wenju sentenced to 4.5 years, transferred to Daping Prison — her third imprisonment since 2017

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Yan Wenju, a resident of Kuizhou Subdistrict in Fengjie County, Chongqing, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble' and transferred to Chongqing's Daping Prison to serve her term, which runs to March 8, 2029. Weiquanwang published her case details and biography on October 2; Minsheng Guancha disclosed the sentence and transfer on October 1. Yan has long petitioned over the expropriation and compensation of her family's contracted farmland, which she says was occupied from 2013 onward while compensation procedures remained disputed. In 2017 she was sentenced to 14 months for 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble' after unfurling banners at the disputed site; in 2020 she was detained again and sentenced to 30 months for 'organizing illegal gatherings'; in July 2023 she was placed under administrative detention three times within a single month, and in June 2024 she received a 10-day administrative detention for petitioning in Beijing. In December 2023 she suffered a traffic accident that fractured her thoracic spine and damaged her intervertebral discs; on September 9, 2024, while still under treatment, she was criminally detained, and on October 17 she was formally arrested. According to Minsheng Guancha, prosecutors had recommended a four-year sentence, but the Fengjie County court imposed four years and six months.

Why it matters

Yan Wenju's case traces a complete cycle of petitioners being managed through criminal punishment at the grassroots: from the 2013 farmland dispute, to imprisonments in 2017 and 2020, to her 2024 detention and this third sentence — administrative detention, criminal detention and prison terms forming a continuous loop, while the original land and compensation dispute was never substantively resolved. The most contested point is how hardship assistance payments from the Kuizhou Subdistrict office entered the criminal case as the factual basis for 'forcibly taking' money; but with no full judgment published, the amounts, the court's findings on the evidence and the defense's arguments cannot be checked, and Minsheng Guancha's claim linking the heavier sentence to her refusal to plead guilty is that outlet's account alone. This site has not independently verified these details — hence the 'under ongoing verification' grading.

Full report

Yan Wenju, a resident of Kuizhou Subdistrict in Fengjie County, Chongqing, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison and transferred to Chongqing's Daping Prison, with her term running to March 8, 2029. Weiquanwang published her case details and biography on October 2; Minsheng Guancha first disclosed the sentence and transfer on October 1. Public records show Yan has been criminally punished three times since 2017 over her rights-defense activities. [1][2]

The case began with a dispute over contracted farmland. Yan says her family's contracted land was occupied from 2013 onward while expropriation and compensation procedures remained disputed, after which she filed complaints with the authorities for years. In 2017 she was sentenced to 14 months for 'picking quarrels and provoking trouble' after unfurling banners at the disputed site; in 2020 she was detained again and sentenced to 30 months for 'organizing illegal gatherings'. Minsheng Guancha also recorded that in July 2023 the Fengjie County public security authorities placed her under administrative detention three times within a single month, and in June 2024 she received a 10-day administrative detention for petitioning in Beijing. [1]

In December 2023 Yan was involved in a traffic accident that fractured her thoracic spine and damaged her intervertebral discs, requiring long-term treatment. On September 9, 2024, the Fengjie County Public Security Bureau placed her under criminal detention while she was still under treatment; on October 17 she was formally arrested. According to Minsheng Guancha, prosecutors had recommended four years in prison, but the Fengjie County court ultimately imposed four years and six months, with judge Ou Yan presiding; the outlet links the heavier sentence to Yan's refusal to plead guilty. [1]

The most contested fact in this case is how hardship assistance payments from the Kuizhou Subdistrict office entered the criminal proceedings: investigators treated the payments as the factual basis for Yan 'forcibly taking' money, while Yan herself refused to plead guilty. With no full judgment retrievable through public channels, the amounts, the court's findings on each piece of evidence and the defense's arguments cannot be reconstructed from the rights groups' accounts alone; the claimed causal link between refusing to plead guilty and the heavier sentence can only be reported as Minsheng Guancha's account. [1]

Yan's health in custody has also drawn attention. Minsheng Guancha reported in 2025 that during detention she had been bedridden with injuries for a long period and could not care for herself, and that her and her husband's applications to change the compulsory measures were denied. The October update says she has been moved from her previous detention location to Daping Prison. [2]

Verification note: this record documents the verifiable public act — Weiquanwang and Minsheng Guancha reporting Yan Wenju's sentence and prison transfer. The sentence (4.5 years), the transfer to Daping Prison, the term ending March 8, 2029, and the timeline of past punishments all come from the two rights outlets' disclosures; but the specific facts behind treating hardship assistance as 'forcibly taking', and the claimed link between refusing to plead guilty and the heavier sentence, have no published judgment to check against and cannot be independently confirmed by this site. This site will continue to follow the case. [1][2]

Primary sources

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